That's a promise
Arthur was furious, he had been sitting in the darkened tent for nearly half an hour and he was growing increasingly concerned for Merlin. He had made a promise to Gaius to keep her safe, it had been just after the disastrous events of the feast where Merlin had ended up poisoned. The old physician had thanked Arthur for getting the Morteus flower to him in order to save Merlin's life, but he had then asked Arthur to try to look out for her - she seemed to not have any sense of self preservation. Arthur had whole heartedly agreed - he did not take promises lightly.
Arthur heard a loud scream, louder than any he had heard before, it was obvious that Merlin must be in a great deal of pain. The prince had given up struggling, the ropes were a lot stronger than before and in any case, trying to escape would just get Merlin hurt even more. Arthur heard the tent flap open and then footsteps, they went past him and then he heard a thump and a yell of pain. Someone must have carried Merlin in, Arthur twisted in his restraints, trying to work the blindfold from his eyes.
Suddenly the material was removed and he blinked up at the bandit leader, he smirked down at Arthur. "Your servant is quite spirited isn't she?" Arthur bristled.
"What have you done to Merlin?" he asked in a slow, angry voice.
"I've just made sure that you realize that trying to cross me is a very bad idea, boy." The bandit leader reached around to Arthur's bound hands and cut the rope attaching them to the main pole. He left the tent before Arthur could get the chance to attack him, but Arthur was already crawling over to the heap in the corner of the tent.
"Merlin?" he called softly, reaching out to shake her by the shoulder - but stopped himself at the last moment. There was something wrong about the angle of Merlin's arm, he gently rolled her onto her back and swore. Her arm was clearly broken, splayed out at a worrying angle and he could see dark bruises already forming at her shoulder where her shirt had been pulled back. That bastard had broken her arm. Arthur quickly looked for more injuries, there was a large bruise on her face and the cut on her cheek was still bleeding quite a bit. But otherwise Merlin seemed ok, he wasn't about to check under her shirt though so he couldn't be completely sure. Arthur tore off a strip of his shirt and used it to wipe some of the blood off of Merlin's face. At the touch of the fabric, Merlin screwed up her face and shifted in her unconsciousness.
"Merlin? Can you hear me?" Merlin twitched but didn't wake. A sudden idea struck Arthur. "Merlin get up! You're late for work, idiot!" To his surprise - it worked. Merlin moaned and her eyes flickered open.
"Prat, can dress yourself can't you?" Arthur felt relief wash over him.
"How do you feel?" Merlin grimaced as she shifted, trying to sit up, she gasped in pain and clutched her broken arm.
"Not so good really, but I'll live." she put on a tired smirk, but Arthur knew that she was in a lot more pain than she was letting on.
"He broke your arm, Merlin, I'm sorry, it was my fault-" Merlin cut him off with a frown.
"No, it was my fault, I pissed him off."
Arthur choked out a laugh. "No changes there then."
"You shouldn't have done that, Arthur." Merlin muttered. "You shouldn't have promised to cooperate, you should try to escape - I know that you could, just leave me, I'll be fine-"
Arthur put a finger on her lips and said firmly. "Shut up, Merlin."
Merlin impatiently brushed his arm away. "But-"
Arthur cut her off quickly. "I'm not leaving you, this conversation is over." Arthur winced as he rubbed his injured shoulder, it still ached like mad, no matter how well it had been treated, it would still take at least three days to heal properly.
"How's your shoulder? Can I have a look at it?" Merlin asked but Arthur shook his head and showed her the bandages.
"I'm fine - they want to keep me alive." he mumbled, the prince suddenly felt very tired and he settled down on the hay pile with a sigh. Merlin took off her neckerchief and began making a makeshift sling for her broken arm, wincing with pain as she did so. The servant then moved to sit over by the main pole, with her back pressed against it. Arthur moved over to Merlin and pulled her back onto the hay pile, laying opposite him.
"What are you doing?" Merlin asked, her eyebrows raised to an impressive level.
"I'm keeping you where I can see you and anyway its more comfortable here - you do have a broken arm in case you hadn't noticed." Merlin opened her mouth and then closed it again, she huffed and settled down on the hay so that her feet were behind Arthur's head.
"Get some sleep." Arthur murmured into the darkness. "We're going to get out of here - that's a promise." Merlin whispered.
"You stole my line." Arthur muttered back, kicking her playfully in the head. Both master and servant shared a chuckle before falling into their own uneasy sleeps.